F1 News
Aston Martin sees Vettel's problems: 'Seems like he gets all the problems'
- GPblog.com
For Sebastian Vettel the debut with Aston Martin was one to forget quickly. A grid penalty meant that the German had to start from last place and in the end, he was unable to convert that starting position into points. He was even penalised during the race for a collision with Esteban Ocon. Still, the team of the four-time world champion keeps hope in Vettel.
"If you look at the positives, he had to start from last place and drove for a period in the top ten," Aston Martin team principal Otmar Szafnauer acknowledged in conversation with Formula1.com. Szafnauer acknowledges that he does not know how Vettel felt after the first Grand Prix in Bahrain."I had to leave earlier at the debrief so I didn't get his feedback, but from the pit wall I could see that his lap times were not much below Lance Stroll's."
Aston Martin keeps faith
However, the position on the track meant that Vettel could never really get into a rhythm. According to Szafnauer it is however too early to say that Vettel is out of shape."It is still very early in the season. He didn't get to do a lot of laps during the winter test and he also had to share the car with Lance and it seemed Seb was stuck with all the problems."
"The car he is driving now is totally different to what he is used to". The only real lap that Vettel was able to push in his green car was in qualifying. However, that lap was ruined by Nikita Mazepin, who spun at the first corner."That was the only moment he really felt good in the car. I'm confident that we can sort everything out with Seb," Szafnauer concluded.